[galexkeene]

Hi all,

Large chance I am moving to Shanghai in the very near future for a long stay (at least 6 months). I am originally from the US and just finished a 2 year contract with VZW but my phone is near inoperable. I would like to get a blackberry or some other smart phone but don't know what my best option would be as I have very little experience with using phones internationally.

Do I want to switch to a GSM BB from someone like ATT or TMobile? I feel like having to pay for US service I won't use + roaming fees form China is going to be stupid-expensive.

Do I want to just shut down my VZW phone once I leave and head to China and get a smartphone there? Do they have blackberries? (I actually had an 8830 from VZW the past few days and loved it, but returned it and got out of the contract after realizing how long I was going to be abroad)

Do I lose my phone number if I close my VZW account and don't open another? Obviously I will get a local number in China on a local SIM card, but was hoping to some how keep my US number for my eventual return.

I know this is more BB centric as a forum but hoped some international types would be able to help me out with this.

Finally, while I am going over to work (as a teacher) I will be footing any phone bill, and would hoep to use plenty of data once there, so any sort of international/roaming fees are out of my budget.

Thanks in advance for any and all help with this!

[oakie]

get a phone over there if you're gonna be there that long.

[doktrgroove]

You'll need a GSM phone. Any of the quad band BBs should work but verify with the carrier.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mazondo]

I was in China for four months myself (I was a BeiDa student in Beijing) and it's pretty tough to get the phone thing worked out. You'll do alright in Shanghai tho, it's as western as it gets in China.

That being said, I took my 8830 WE over there. I only used it for about a week though, it just wasn't worth the hassle to me. I purchased a cheap nokia and put the blackberry away for a few months. I will mention, though, that after I got back I saw a blog posting somewhere about Verizon unlocking their BlackBerry's for world traveler customers. it made it seem like it was as easy as giving them a call and asking for it to be done. If this is the case, you could easily just stick in a China Mobile card and use it that way.

You can also pick up BlackBerry phones there for quite a bit cheaper than they are here (but be careful, fakes and refurbs are EVERYWHERE and most likely just don't work).

Enjoy your stay and try the yang rou chuanr!

[coolrat33]

Hi! I brought my 8830 to China about 5 months ago. I can make calls on it - the GSM portion is not locked, but I cannot send Chinese text messages. The phone can display Chinese text, but it does not allow input.

I've searched many threads about this, but cannot find an answer. Some people at " BlackBerry 8830 WE" on this site claim that they have successfully installed a Chinese input, but I have yet to see any real proof of this. If someone knows how to do this, please please post your experience online!

Personally, my next phone will most definitely be an Open Source based phone. No more proprietary stuff for me. A Chinese input method is not available only because RIM's code is proprietary and third party developers cannot make an input system very easily.